


Sorry, Crystal

by clgfanfic



Category: War of the Worlds (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-17
Updated: 2012-11-17
Packaged: 2017-11-18 20:25:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/564937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clgfanfic/pseuds/clgfanfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A post-Second Seal story.  What happens when the crystal is taken to the Cottage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sorry, Crystal

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published in the zine Green Floating Weirdness #1 under the pen name Gillian Holt.

_"Why the hell aren't you responding like the rest of us lesser mortals?"_

 

          Harrison Blackwood, along with the other members of the Blackwood Project, leaned over a thick glass bell jar sitting on the basement computer work station, and stared at the small pyramid of crystal that sat under it, glowing faintly green.  Less than a week ago the object had nearly cost Blackwood and team microbiologist, Suzanne McCullough, their lives.

          "What _are_ you?" computer expert Norton Drake queried the unresponsive crystal.

          "A very good question," Blackwood said.  "I wish we had some answers.  Any hunches?"  He looked over his shoulder at the team's security chief.  "Huh, let me correct that for those who are more literal-minded.  Theories?"

          Lt. Colonel Paul Ironhorse scowled at Blackwood.  Although he had been home from the Ft. Streeter hospital for nearly a week, he was still confined to light duty and was supposed to be resting.  Resting made him edgy.  And that, Ironhorse discovered, brought out some weird protective streak in Blackwood, who had been watching him like a mother hen as the soldier prowled behind the threesome, observing the object with a worried expression.  Blackwood did not consider pacing around the basement computer station resting.  Ironhorse disagreed.  Blackwood became insufferable.

          "A weapon?" the colonel offered, the comment laced with a threat the scientist recognized.

          "Or maybe a toy?" Drake countered, picking up the vibes from the two men and deciding to get into the game.  After all, what good was a soldier if you couldn't play with it once in a while?

          "We really don't have any way of finding out," Suzanne said, trying to decide if any of them had ever grown up.  "Unless we ask an alien, of course."

          Blackwood ran a hand through his light brown curls.  "Well, we know it has properties that allow it to act as a weapon in combination with light.  But it also affects the psyche."

          "The _human_ psyche," Norton corrected.  "Gertrude, coffee," he commanded the voice-activated wheelchair.  "We don't know if it has any effect on alien minds at all."

          "If they have minds," Ironhorse muttered under his breath.

          "A joke, Colonel?" Drake asked as he began to pour out four cups of his latest concoction.

          "No, Mr. Drake, an observation.  If Suzanne's right about the alien's anatomy, then they don't have a brain per se."

          "Ah, but who says the mind has to be housed in the brain, Colonel?" Harrison asked.

          "Let's not get off on philosophy here," Suzanne interrupted before the fireworks could start.  And she really did like fireworks.  "The one thing we are sure of is this thing _can_ affect the human psyche, and if the aliens know or found out about that, and they have more of these…"  She let the thought trail off, the implication clear to all her colleagues.

          "But if the effects are different in everyone who's exposed, how could they use it—"

          "That's it, Norton!" Blackwood cut the black man off.

          "That's what?"

          "It's _different_.  That thing, whatever it is, uncovered what was personally repressed in both Suzanne and I."

          "I beg your pardon?" McCullough questioned, folding her arms across her chest.

          "Suzanne, it did.  Tell me that you haven't repressed part of your sexual nature.  That you haven't had to put being a woman on hold, at least in part, to make it in a man's—"

          "All right, all right, I see what you're getting at."

          "You're just two people, Doctor, you can't be sure that's what that thing does to every human who comes into contact with it," the colonel argued.

          "There's one way to find out," Norton said, rolling back over to join his teammates, a tray of full coffee cups resting on his lap.  "We get someone else to expose themselves – metaphorically – to—"

          "No, absolutely not," Suzanne interrupted.  "We have no idea exactly what that thing did to us, or what the long term side effects might be.  It's just too dangerous."

          "I'm afraid I have to agree," Blackwood concurred.

          "Same here," Ironhorse said.  "I don't want any of you taking any chances with that thing.  Is that understood, Mr. Drake?"

          "It didn't sound like Suzanne and the Doc were feeling any pain, believe me," the black man argued.

          "True," Harrison said stiffly.  "But—"

          "He ordered a pepperoni pizza," the colonel supplied.  "So there might have been some kind of brain damage we don't know about.  Then again, maybe that thing has healing properties."

          "Thank you, Colonel, for those most encouraging words," Blackwood ground out.

          Suzanne and Norton suppressed smiles as Ironhorse's eyebrows arched.  "You're very welcome, Doctor.  Now, if you people will excuse me, I have some paperwork that needs to be filled out, and I have to contact Colonel Cress to see when the new base commander will be arriving.  I have a feeling we're far from finished with the Kirby Hall vaults.  Carry on, but don't touch that thing.  Any of you," he concluded, staring at Norton, who gave him a sloppy salute.

          "Paul, you're supposed to be resting," Suzanne reminded him.

          "Suzanne, I'm going to my office," he said, reaching the elevator – his one concession to the healing leg.  "Sitting down in my chair, and _resting_ while I fill out paperwork and use the phone."  The elevator door slid shut.

          "He's impossible."

"No argument from me, Suzanne," Blackwood said.  "I think I'll go up and see if I can find anything about alien crystals in the rest of Dr. Forrester's notes we haven't converted to the Cray.  Norton, can you run a search in the data bank for anything there?"

          "You got it, Doc."

          "And I have a riding date with a certain young lady," Suzanne said, looking at her watch.  "Which I'm about to be late for.  See you all later."

          She and Harrison ascended the stairs, leaving Norton alone with the Cray and the crystal.

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

          For almost an hour Drake kept himself busy hunting through the databases he had built up.

Nothing.

With a frustrated sigh, Norton finished off the last of his now cold coffee and set the mug down beside the bell jar.  The crystal's color deepened slightly.

          His curiosity engaged, Norton waved his fingers closer to the jar, watching the color grow darker the closer he got.  "You are a strange one, aren't you," he asked the pyramid.  "I still don't see what the problem is.  Harrison and Suzanne are fine after playing with you for a few hours.  I don't see what one little jolt could do."

          Casting a furtive glance around the room, Norton wagged his eyebrows in mischievous glee.  "Just what am I repressing, anyway, oh green-and-glowing?"

          Lifting the glass away caused the object to take on a steady, darker green hue.  Grabbing Gertrude's wheels, Norton maneuvered in for a closer look at the forbidden toy.  "So, what are we going to do, hmmm?"

          Common sense told the man it was foolish, downright stupid to mess with the crystal, but another voice, more persistent, argued that he missed most of the action anyway, and the least the rest of them could do was let him take a few thrills around the Cottage.  After all, it wasn't going to kill him.  Probably.

          Reaching out, Norton watched in increasing fascination as the crystal began to pulse just slightly before an arc of light discharged from the top of the pyramid, shocking the back of his hand.  He jerked the extremity away, then examined it, but there were no marks to suggest that anything had happened.  And he felt exactly the same.

          "Now that's a bummer," Norton muttered.

          Reaching out, he tried again, only to get the same response.

"Norton!"

          Turning abruptly in the wheelchair, the computer expert found a very worried looking Harrison Blackwood standing behind him.  "What do you think you're doing?" the astrophysicist asked.

"I'm cutting myself in on some of the action around here."

          "Cutting yourself—?" Blackwood started, but pulled himself up short.  "Look, Norton, just move away from that thing so I can cover it—"

          "Move away?  Man, that's all I ever hear around here!  Norton do this, Norton do that.  Norton, make coffee.  Norton, look this up for me the in computer.  Norton, watch Debi.  Norton, locate the coordinates where the aliens are.  But does anyone ask me if I want to be stuck here behind this, this… machine?  No!  No one's asked me."

          "Listen to me, you're under the influence of that thing."

          "Influence?"  Drake looked back at the crystal, then reached out and picked it up.  "This thing didn't do anything except put on a little light show."

          "Please, Norton, let me have it?"

          "Let you?  Hey, Doc, when are you guys gonna let me in on some of the action?  Huh?  You think I don't know what it is, but I do.  You think just because I'm in this wheelchair I can't take care of myself.  Everyone always thinks that, but it isn't true.  I really expected better of you, Harrison."

          The tirade was stopped short when Suzanne walked in to join them.  Her eyes moved immediately from Blackwood's panicked expression to Norton and then to the crystal in his hand.

          "Norton?" she asked.  "Are you all right?"

          "Ah, man, I don't need all of you paternalistic white people feeling sorry for me.  I'm as smart as they come with computers.  I can make my own way in the world.  I don't need you watching out from me, understand?  I'm can handle things just fine on my own."

          "We understand," Harrison said, his eyes flicking to the crystal.  There had to be a way to get that thing away from him.

          "Like hell you do!  You aren't Black, Harrison.  And you sure as hell aren't paralyzed!  I want to remind you, I pulled your biscuits out of the fire a few times.  But no one remembers that, do they?  All I get is 'Stay here, Norton.'  'Be safe,

Norton.'  Safe is boring!  The computer's the only one I know who doesn't judge me based on what it sees, because it can't see!  Now, if you don't mind, I want to be alone, so get the hell out of here!"

          Blackwood and Suzanne exchanged glances.  Both hated the idea of leaving the man alone with the alien object, but they needed a chance to decide what they should do.  And they needed to tell Ironhorse what was going on.

          "All right," Blackwood said.  "But we'll be back in a little while to work this out."

          "Work what out?  Are you going to change the color of my skin?  Or maybe you're going to eat alfalfa sprouts, stand on your head, stare at a few candles and figure out how you can make me walk?  Look, I can take care of myself just fine, thank you very much.  In fact, I'm the best on these babies."  He reached out and patted the top of his monitor.  "And I'm going to prove it to you!  I'm going to do what he said can't be done!  Now, get out!"

          Blackwood and Suzanne both backed slowly to the stairs, then left.  Norton waited until they were gone, then laid the crystal on the top of the monitor and started typing.

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

          "In!" Ironhorse called to the persistent knocking that rattled his door.  He must have fallen asleep at his desk, the colonel deduced, and quickly arranged himself as Blackwood and Suzanne entered.  "What can I do for you, doctors?"

          "It's Norton, he's got the crystal," Harrison said.

          "And he doesn't want to let it go," Suzanne tossed in.

          "Great, so you want me to disarm the man?"

          "That's not exactly what I had in mind, but now that you mention it…" Blackwood said, trailing off.  "No, that might be harder than you think anyway."

          "Oh?"

          "You've read Norton's file, he's an expert stick-fighter, and he's had training in the martial arts."

          "So have I, Doctor."

          "But you're recovering from bullet wounds, and he's high on that alien crystal," Suzanne argued.

          "You have a point," the soldier conceded.  "You have a better plan?"

          "If I thought talking him out of it would work I'd suggest that, but I know it won't," Blackwood said, pacing in front of the officer's desk.  "I guess I'll just have to take it away from him."

          "No!  Harrison, we don't know what repeated exposures could do.  It might have permanent side effects.  It's too dangerous.  Besides, we know what that thing brings out in you, and I don't think Paul and I could take on you and Norton."

          Blackwood scowled at the woman for a moment before he nodded.  "You're right.  I couldn't control myself the first time, there's no reason to think I could this time."  He looked at the microbiologist.  "But if you took it, the Colonel and I should be able to handle the two of you."

          Suzanne blushed a deep crimson.  "Harrison, you know what— I don't think I— Harrison, I can't.  What if I fixated on…"  She glanced quickly at the soldier.  "…him?"

          The eyebrows leaped, then plunged.  "I haven't been exposed," Ironhorse stated firmly.  "You two can distract him and I'll take the crystal away."

          "But what about—?"

          "It's the only logical choice we have, Doctors.  Like Suzanne said, we don't know what a second exposure might do.  I haven't had any, so the effect should be the most minor on me.  Now, let's down there."  Ironhorse stood and headed for the door, asking, "Doesn't anyone around here ever listen?  Mr. Drake was _not_ supposed to do any self-experimentation."

          "We listen, Colonel," Blackwood reassured him as they reached the elevator. "It's just the following orders part we have trouble with."

          "You're telling me?"

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

          Drake didn't hear the elevator door, too immersed in the computer program he was writing code for.  He'd show the rest of the high and mighty Blackwood Project he wasn't helpless…  He'd do what Ironhorse said couldn't be done, by anyone!

          The three team members exited silently.  Harrison pointed to the unattended crystal sitting on the monitor.  Ironhorse nodded, motioning Blackwood and Suzanne forward.

          "Breaking into top secret military computers again, Mr. Drake?" the colonel said.

          Norton spun away from the keyboard.  "I thought I told you people to go away so I could work!  You're interrupting genius here!"

          "Norton, we just want to help," Suzanne told him.

          "I don't need help!  Now, get, get!" he said, rolling forward, intending to herd them back up the stairs.

          As soon as Drake was far enough away from the monitor so he couldn't turn and grab the crystal, Ironhorse slipped out from behind the two scientists and headed straight for the glowing pyramid.  He felt the arc of energy hit him before his fingers curled around the smooth surface, and paused momentarily to marvel at how the planes felt almost soft to the touch.

          Norton stopped his rush toward the other Project members, realizing he'd been set up.  "Not fair, Colonel!" he proclaimed, spinning the chair around.

          The three watched as Ironhorse stood for a moment, his eyes fixed on the object in his hand.  Then he reached for the bell jar, set the crystal down on its glass base, and replaced the top.  Then, carrying the whole thing over to the wooden crate it had arrived in, he inserted it back in there as well.

          Straightening, Ironhorse looked at Norton, who had started rubbing his forehead.  "Are you all right, Mr. Drake?"

          "I— I think so," he said, then looked up sheepishly.  "I think I made a big mistake, guys."

          "I'll say," Blackwood concurred.

          "I'm really sorry about what I said.  I don't know where that came from.  It wasn't me.  And I didn't mean it, Doc.  Really."

          "I know.  Believe me, I know," Harrison said, reaching out to grip the black man's shoulder.  "The exposure is already wearing off.  Thank God it was just a short time.  Colonel, how do you feel?"

          Ironhorse looked at the physicist.  "I'm fine, Harrison.  Thank you for asking.  I think I'll go back to my office."

          The three watched the Colonel leave.

"I don't like this," Suzanne said, watching the elevator door shut.  "Why didn't the exposure affect him?"

          "It did," Blackwood said.  "He called me Harrison."

          "He's done that before," Suzanne said.

          "It affected him, Suzanne.  I don't know how, but I plan on finding out – now.  You stay here with Norton—"

          "I'm fine, Doc.  Go ahead."

          "You're still coming down.  Trust me, it isn't quite over yet, there'll be a few more bursts of crystal-induced behavior."

          "Great," Norton lamented.  "Computer ego-maniac meets, whiny cynic.  Remind me to have a talk with my unconscious when I'm not under the influence."

          "By the way," Blackwood asked, "what were you working on?"

          Drake grinned.  "Some way a paraplegic pizza delivery man could bypass Ironhorse's security and deliver a hot one in less than thirty minutes."

          The two scientists burst into laughter.  "Oh, that's classic," Suzanne said.

          "We'll have to test it.  Want a part-time job at Domino's?" Harrison asked the black man.

          "Naw, too much rolling in dough.  Sorry… crystal."

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

          "It's open," Ironhorse said, already knowing who was outside his door, and what Blackwood was going to ask.

          Harrison stepped into the colonel's office.  "Paul?"

          "I'm fine, Harr— Doctor."

          "That's what Norton told me, too, but believe me, you can't shake that crystal so easy."  The physicist eyed his colleague critically.  "If you were affected at all…  But I'm sure Suzanne and I were under its influence from the first exposure.  The rest was just to keep the effect going."

          "Believe me.  I was affected."

          "How?"

          "That, Doctor, is need to know."

          "And I do, Colonel.  The only way we're going to understand this thing is if I understand how it influenced all of us.  It clearly reveals our repressions…  Doesn't it?"

          "I suppose so."

          "Colonel, you're hedging.  What happened?  What are you feeling?  Why the hell aren't you responding like the rest of us lesser mortals?"  That caused Ironhorse to chuckle, and after a moment, Blackwood joined in.  "All right, so my ego's been bruised.  But, you have to admit, it looks like you were able to handle that thing and the rest of us weren't.  What's your secret, Colonel?"

          "I _didn't_ handle it any better than you.  To tell you the truth, Doctor, I was scared shitless."

          "Fear?  It made you afraid?  You repress fear?"

          "No.  What I _saw_ scared me."

          Blackwood sat down in the chair in front of the colonel's desk.  "What exactly did you see?"

Ironhorse sighed heavily.  Blackwood was going to think he'd flipped.  "I saw a bear."

          "A bear?"  Ironhorse is afraid of bears?  Blackwood pondered.  Ursidae-phobia?

          "I guess it was more of a bear spirit.  It was huge, Blackwood, tall enough to fill the sky.  Look, I know this sounds crazy, okay?  But that's what happened.  I saw a bear spirit, complete with thunder, and lightning, and sound effects.  And it talked to me."

          "Quit making me feel like a dentist, will you?" Blackwood huffed.  " _What_ did it say?"

          Ironhorse looked away from the scientist.  "It said, 'Awaken, little brother, you've denied me for too long.'"

          "Any idea what he means?"

          Ironhorse looked back at the man.  "No.  Besides, it was just a hallucination."

          "Maybe, but I have a feeling you're going to run across that bear spirit in the not too distant future."

          "Oh?  And where do you think I'm going to meet this bear, while I'm out chasing down aliens?"

          "Not to worry, Colonel," Harrison said with a grin.  "I think he'll find you."


End file.
